


I took it all away

by AndHellFollowedWithHim



Category: World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: Gimmicks are real, Kane feels bad, Kane's kinda wholesome really, Taker's not sure what the frick is going on
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-08
Updated: 2020-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:15:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23068330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AndHellFollowedWithHim/pseuds/AndHellFollowedWithHim
Summary: In the middle of a night, Kane suddenly experiences a bang of guilt when thinking about how he buried his brother alive in 2003, and what he ended up taking away from him.
Kudos: 14





	I took it all away

**Author's Note:**

> Gimmicks are real, Taker's kinda dead, Kane used to be a psycho etc etc  
> Set somewhere after Kane became friends with Daniel Bryan and now, I don't know tbh I just wrote this for kicks
> 
> This is my first fanfic and english isn't my first language so please don't murder me

_Kane watched from the window of the payloader as his big brother fought the owner of the WWE. He displayed no reaction whatsoever as Vince McMahon slammed a shovel to his own flesh and blood’s chest, dropping him backwards to the grave. As could’ve been expected, that didn’t keep the phenom down, and he slowly stood up and pulled McMahon to the grave with him. To Kane’s sick delight, his brother started heading for the payloader’s cabin._

_His eyes narrowed as he took in the pitiful sight in front of him. The match had taken a surprisingly large toll on the big man’s body. Blood was smeared across his chest, he was covered in dirt and he was holding his right hand to his chest. His breathing was heavy as he struggled to climb up the payloader’s ladder with one arm, his efforts only to be rewarded with with an explosion of fire right into his face._

_Kane liked to be a little bit dramatic, he had learned that from his brother._

_As the Undertaker flew away from the cabin’s door and started struggling back towards the open area, Kane jumped to the ground with a thud. His lips were spread in a menacing smile as he started slowly creeping up on his kneeling counterpart, not in any particular hurry._

_As he closed up on the Undertaker’s back, his big brother slowly turned around and their eyes met. Grey eyes met pale green as the time seemed to slow down around them. The Taker’s gaze was full of confusion and pain, whether the pain was physical or mental, Kane didn’t know. He was sickened by the lack of the familiar evil he was so used to seeing in that shade of green._

_A jab to the face ensured that he didn’t have to look into those weak eyes anymore. A few other similar ones made the Undertaker fall into the grave._

_He fell so easily. Kane assured himself that, if he were the Undertaker he was a few years ago, he would’ve been harder to get to stay down. But no, there he was._

_A stray hand reached from the grave towards Kane and he grabbed it, helping Vince McMahon out of the grave. The owner of the WWE was a mess, covered in blood and barely able to stand. The millionaire didn’t seem so high and mighty as he was crawling on all fours, getting away from Kane and the hole in the earth._

_But Kane didn’t care, he didn’t even glance at McMahon as the other started to climb the ladder to the same payloader he had been sitting in just moments before. He laughed as he watched the Undertaker just lay there, struggling to keep his eyes open and twitching to try to move somewhere, anywhere, else, but to no avail. There was not an ounce of remorse in Kane as he stared. So weak. Almost pathetic. How dare he become so weak. How dare he become one of them. It all started from wearing that damn bandana._

_Kane suddenly felt a rush of aggression as he kneeled down next to the grave and pulled the bandana off his brother’s head. He saw the Taker weakly lift his arm up in a futile effort to stop him, but it didn’t change the outcome to any direction. How dare he not punch Kane for taking something that belonged to him. How dare he not sit up from the dirt and chokeslam him to hell._

_Small chuckles transformed into waves of manical laughter that shook Kane’s shoulders as he looked at his helpless brother one more time, looked at the bandana in his hand, turned around and lifted his hand up in mockery of what had become his brother’s signature pose. Not long passed before he heard the payloader dump all the dirt it had been carrying into the grave. Crushing his brother. Burying him alive. He heard some of the audience scream in terror as he continued laughing. He imagined his big brother under all that dirt, desperately trying to gasp for air. How dare he gasp for air. How dare he be alive._

_Kane turned around and looked at the mound of dirt, imagining the Undertaker dying below._

The big red machine woke up in his bed in an uncomfortable position. He sighed heavily and shifted to lay on his back, opening his eyes and staring at the ceiling. It was clearly still the middle of the night, evident by the darkness and the silence. The only sound he heard in the whole building was the steady slow hum that was the ambient sound of his home. The position he had been in had been uncomfortable, but it didn’t compare to the uncomfortable feeling in his mind.

Kane didn’t usually wake up in the middle of the night. Many years ago nightmares had been a nightly occurance, waking him up several times in cold sweat, but he had gotten rid of those a good while ago. Kane didn’t have anything to be afraid of. He was the big red machine. The dream he had just seen was a memory, not a nightmare, but it still made something shift uncomfortably inside of him.

He growled and sat up, trying to not think about it. He didn’t feel like continuing his rest, so he got dressed and walked into his living room. Not feeling like eating either, he slumped down on his couch and turned the tv on. The grey eyes were looking at the tv, but they weren’t seeing it. He was deep in thought.

Something inside kept nagging at him. Something that had been there for a while, but decided to make itself known now out of all times. He felt… guilt? No, he didn’t need to feel guilt. He shook his head, rubbed his head with his palm and tried to focus on the program, but his eyes still didn’t take anything in. It was definitely guilt. He actually felt guilty for what he did to his own brother on that day. It took a little bit more of staring emptily at the running television, until he finally placed the reason for it.

Kane had been living a more ”normal” life recently. He hadn’t been running around setting people on fire, he hasn’t attacked innocent people because he felt like it and he hadn’t been the person that had made that entrance during the 1997 Hell In A Cell. He had actually formed some great relationships with people and he had become actual friends with some of them. He had had fun, goofed around from time to time to release some tension and he had _made_ people happy. He _was_ happy. He had become more… human. While he still struck fear into other peoples’ hearts and while he was still a very powerful force in the wrestling ring, he was far less of a monster than he used to be.

Kane buried his face into his hands. He knew someone who hadn’t experienced anything even close to that in many a year. That sealed it.

The 7ft man stood up with quick, stiff movements and walked away from the tv, not even bothering to turn it off. He stomped to the front door, pushed his feet into some shoes, grabbed a jacket and exited the house.

The drive was long, a couple of hours, but it felt like remarkably less. Soon enough Kane was in front of an old, weathered building with nothing planned out to say. He turned his headlights off and just sat in the darkness, exceptionally unsure of himself. He just kept staring at the building, trying to distract himself by paying way too much attention in meaningless details.

The building was surrounded by nothing but desert, the only building anywhere near it being the one next to it. It was much smaller, almost insignificant, but Kane knew that it housed some treasures that the one that lived here treasured very much. Back to the main building, he watched as the large sign on top of the main door swayed softly in the small breeze, one corner of it haven given away and allowing for some extra movement. He kept reading the text on the sign over and over, until he slapped himself for some courage and finally exited the car.

The desert night was cold, but Kane didn’t feel it. The man was too busy staring at the door he was walking towards, expecting it to swing open any minute and being punched in the gut. But no, there was no such luck and he made it unharmed. It wasn’t locked, which didn’t surprise the wrestler at all. No one in their right mind would step through that door willingly, and thinking about that made Kane’s movements all the more hard.

No, he had driven all this way to this cursed building, he’d be damned if he turned around now.

Pushing over the creaking door revealed the scene inside. The whole building was dimly lit, mostly by candles, with some electrical lights blinking uncertainly in the darkness. The furniture was old and dusty, and the air felt suffocating. Stepping inside every single step made a louder noise than it would’ve made anywhere else, the floorboards creaking as loud as possible. It almost had an abandoned house feel to it, which would’ve been complete if the hadn’t been any light anywhere and if there weren’t soft sounds of movement somewhere deeper in the building.

It took Kane a while to finally gather himself and make his way to the noise. He was acting like a damn scared child and he was getting angry at himself over it. It wasn’t like this was the first time he had ever set foot into this building, as a matter of fact he has visited this place many times. He did admit to himself that it had always been hard to enter and his current mission didn’t make it any easier.

Finally reaching the cause of the noise, Kane stopped at the doorway and waited. The man inside the room was honing a casket with some equipment he didn’t recognize, never having been a man to build anything. The movement didn’t stop until the man was apparently done with his current task and lowered his equipment down. Kane shifted on his feet, being greeted by an empty pale gaze. He couldn’t help but imagine the eyes he’d seen in his dream and compare the two.

The Undertaker didn’t say a word as he just stood there, still towards the casket but looking at Kane. He hadn’t been exactly talkative for many years and Kane was by no means expecting him to start the conversation, he was just struggling with choosing what exactly to say.

”Hello big brother”, was the only safe thing he could state. As expected, his brother didn’t answer with words. His eyes just drilled deeper into his own.  
”I uh… okay”, Kane took a deep breath and walked into the room, grabbed a wooden chair and sat down a few feet from the opposite end of the casket. He spread his legs and put his elbows on his knees, but unable to be comfortable under the other’s watchful eyes. ”I came to apologize to you.”

Even though the Undertaker was well known for hiding his emotions under a blank mask, his eyebrows raised a bit and his gaze became less pressing with hard questions and more naturally curious.

Kane’s struggle with words just worsened: ”I’m uh, sure you remember when I buried you alive in 2003”

”That’s not the worst hell you’ve put me through”, was the first thing the Undertaker said, his voice making Kane clench his teeth together.  
”I know” Kane acknowledged taking a final deep breath and facing the pale eyes head on. He had to stop acting like a nervous school girl, he was the big red machine goddammit.

”I know, but I’ve been thinking about the consequences”, finding words became a lot easier with some added confidence ”I’m sure you know what my motive was back then. I was mad because you became one of _them_ , you weren’t the monster I thought you needed to be and what you would always be deep down. You’d become a man of respect who defended those weaker than him and who showed compassion”, Kane started, his big brother’s questioning gaze remaining. If anything, it just became more defined.

”But… the thing is, I’m sure you know what I’ve been up to, even though we haven’t been face to face in a long time. Not on – friendly terms anyway. You know I’ve become closer with some people, I’ve become interested in things and I’ve become less of a… monster”, Taker’s eyes narrowed as he was clearly trying to figure out where this was going. At the mention of forming friendships his gaze shifted to another emotion for a split second, but it was too fast for Kane to recognize it.

The younger brother straightened his back. ”I’ve become happy, ’Taker. I’ve had fun. I’ve started to understand the beauty of being normal. Being human. I wasn’t happy when I was a monster. I saw all such things as weaknesses. But some time ago I understood that feeling emotions isn’t wrong and they don’t have to end in disaster.”  
”I- You were like that once too. Human. You were happy”, Kane’s jaw clenched again as he thought back to the dirt crashing down on his big brother’s body ”And I took it all away from you.”

The Undertaker had indeed never been the same after being buried alive at the hands of his own little brother. He’d come back from the dead, but not as the human he had been for the few years before, but as a vengeful grim reaper. Unlike Kane, the Undertaker hadn’t formed new relationships with anyone anymore. Sure, there’d been the occasional show of respect, but nothing even close to what he had done back when he was more alive. Feared by everyone, he had walked the path alone ever since what Kane did. The only thing The Undertaker had was himself and the next fight. Nothing more.

”I’m… really sorry about that. I wish you could’ve been able to continue feelings the things I’ve recently been fortunate enough to feel”

After Kane finished his sentence and allowed silence to fall between them, both remained in place. He couldn’t tell what his brother was thinking, the earlier curiosity clearly having been an emotion he had just allowed to display on his place. Now it had been covered by the familiar mask of nothing. The Undertaker was thinking hard about something, that much Kane could tell. Sometimes he cursed the fact that his brother was like this, since if he was anyone else, Kane could’ve seen the reactions and could’ve known if he said or did something wrong and if he was going to leave the building intact. No such luck.

Suddenly, in a moment of blink and you’ll miss it, something flashed across the Undertaker’s face. Was it… sadness? Kane didn’t have much time to figure out what it was, for it was gone just as quickly as it came.

”What’s done is done, little brother”, was all the Undertaker said and he bent back to work on the casket he’d been working on when Kane came.

The devil’s favorite demon had been expecting a punch in the gut, and while this has certainly been a more physically favorable option, he still didn’t know which outcome he would’ve preferred. Understanding the conversation was over Kane stood up from his chair and walked back to the doorway. Somehow he felt even worse than he had been before. Maybe he’d expected his brother to be extremely unbothered by everything that had happened, like he usually was. Kane would’ve even thought the situation to be just that, if only he hadn’t caught that extremely brief flash of emotion across the Undertaker’s eyes.

Not knowing if it was to make himself or the Undertaker feel better, he briefly turned around before walking out of the door: ”I’ll be by your side from now on, you know that”

Driving home, Kane debated if he’d seen a small smile on his big brother’s lips or not.


End file.
